UX (Ian)

Developer Tools (Jeff/Rob/Dave)

Feedback Summary (Cheng/Tyler/Matt)

Desktop

Watching Beta 8 closely to see if it fixes the Firefox process not closing on shutdown issue.

Gearing up for the "Update all the users" Hotfix, currently planned for June release. (Bug 928173)

Mobile

Market Insights from the Market Strategy Team (Kev)

Desktop

News

Microsoft released its Surface Pro 3 last week, further refining the power tablet offering and receiving mostly positive reviews for pretty much everything except the keyboard.Why we should care: Microsoft's Surface product line continues to grow, and is generating around $1B/quarter in revenue in a market where tablet rev/sales are plateauing (and in some cases declining). The Surface Pro 3 is closer to a Windows laptop replacement than Android or iOS tablets, and adoption bears watching.

Google now requires extensions to be hosted on the Chrome Web Store to be installed. Google is framing this as protecting the user, and to help prevent third-party and/or submarine installs. Extensions not installed via the Web Store can/will be disabled until those extensions are hosted there.Why we should care: Google's continuing to ratchet down access to its product via addons (specifically plugins and extensions) and what they can change in-product. The changes are advocated as user experience wins, and gives Google more control and influence over how their product is affected by other software/interests, similar to other Google products/services.

Notes

Chrome 35 is out, which includes a number of security updates, improved dev tools, some ECMAScript 6 implementation, un-prefixed Shadow DOM and Web Audio API, and brings "Ok Google" and folders to ChromeOS. Interesting bit dev-side is the use of AddressSanitizer for bug detection.

Opera continues to acquire ad companies, continuing its focus on being a mobile ad platform that makes products that integrate nicely with it. This is old news, but still interesting in where Opera continues to invest.

Google acquired Divide, a company that develops BYOD policy software. Continued investment in Enterprise space alongside Chromebooks and Android, and may also supplement Chrome x-platform as a BYOD client choice.